Agitator



Oct. 29, 1929- c. F. RODIN ET AL AGITATOR 2 Sheets-Sheet Filed Dec. 1928 r 7 A TTORNEYS' Oct. 29, 1929. Q E RODIN ET L, 1,733,516

AGITATOR Filed Dec. 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ORNEYS.

Patented Oct. 29, 1929 UNITED STATES PAT-E TTYQ CE CHARLES 1:30 m. 01 SAN FRANCISCO, AND GEORGE e. JAMmson, or OAKLAND, '8

I CALIFORNIA AGITATOR This invention relates to a combination agitator and mixer, and especially to an agitator which maintains heavy substances,

such as concrete, mortar and the like thoroughly mixed while in transit or while awaiting use.

The object of the present invention is to generally improve and simplify the construction' and operation of agitators and mixers, 10 to provide an agitator andmixer which is particularly adapted for handling heavy substances such as cementitious mixtures, for instance concrete lcontaining'heavy aggregates such as crushed rock and sand, etc. and further to provide anagitator and mixer-in which agitation and mixing is obtained by rotary impellers which not only impart a rotary movement to thematerial being mixed, but also a vertical movement.

The agitator and mixer are shown by way of illustration" in. the accompanying drawings, in which: 'Fig. 1 is a central vertical section of the agitator and mixer,

Fig. 2 is a cross section taken on'line IIII Fig.1, T Fig.3 is a section taken on line III-III Fig. 1, f 'H I Fig. 4 is a section taken on line IV-eI V Fig.1, ,A y 1 Fig. 5 is a section taken on linep V'-V Fig.6;

Fig. 6 is a section taken on line VI-IVI Fig; 5, said section. showing the. chaindrive in side elevation," a a a *Fig. 7 is side elevation of the central steering blade.

Referringto the drawings indetailfpan ticularly Fig. 1; Aindicates a tank or like 40 receptacleadapted to contain materials to be agitated and mixed. Mounted on top of the tank is a cover plate 2', and secured to the under side of the cover plate is an internal gear 3. Extending/through the cover plate 4 and journalled therein is a drive shaft 4, to

which power may be transmitted in any suit.- ablemanner, for instance, through a sprocket gear5. "Mounted on the drive shaft is ahead member generally indicated at 13mins head member consisting ofa' bottom plate 6 and is passed of which is adjustable,

atop orcover plate 7]. 'This head member 7 is adapted to freely rotate with relation to the drive fshaft, and themanner ofrotating thesame will hereinafter; be described.

Secured on the drive'shaft intermediate theftop plate 7, and the, cover2 is a driving I pinion 8. Secured in the top plate 17 are a pair Ofstud pin bearings'S), andjournalled j thereon are intermediate gears 10, these gears-meshing with the driving pinion 8 and 6d: I

withthe internal gear'3. Hence, if rotary motion is transmitted to the drive shaft and" pinion 8 inlthe direction of arrow a, see Fig. '3, rotary movement will be transmitted H to the head member Bin the same direction 65' as arrow. a, as the intermediate ears 10 meshwitli the driving: pinion '8 and with p the stationary internal gear The head member B is supported with relation" to the drive shaftby means of acollar-11,,secured .7 on the lower end of the shaft; and byfintermediate anti frictionthrust bearings suchas indicated at 12. I These thrust bearings take up all downward thrust of the head while rollers 13 journalled exterior of the stationary ring gear absorb all upward thrust.

Journalled atthe opposite ends of the head 7 member B in bearings indicated at 14.,are downwardly extending vertically disposed shafts 15. Secured on the lowerends of'each shaft are rotors or impellers 16, and secured on the upper ends'of the shafts intermediate thei'plates 6 and? arev sprocket gears 17. v A driving sprocket gear 18 is secured on the drive shatt l and an endless sprocket chain 19 7 around this ge'arand the sprocket 17 he chain alsopassing over idlers 20,fone p as indicated at 21 to, take, up any slack that mayoccur. A chain 19transmits' a rotary movement to the shafts w 15 and the impellers 16, and as the gear ratio 7 shown at. 8, '9 and 13 is comparatively low with relation to the gear or sprocket chain ratio betweenthe sproeket gears 17 and 18,

each'imp'ellerlfi will make several revolutlons *durlng each revolution fof the head I aggregates, such as crushed rock,

gardless of what the material may be, but for the purpose of describing one use of the device it might be stated that the tank may be mounted on a truck or like motor vehicle and that it serves the purpose of conveying concrete from one point to another. The impellers are continuously rotated while the load of concrete is in transit and it thus ma1ntains the concrete in a thoroughly mixed and homogenous condition so that it isready for use the moment itarrives at its destination. Concrete of course usually contains heavy a sand, etc. Such aggregatetendsto settle. to the bottom of the tank during transit but the employmentof an agitating and mixing deyicesuch as here shownpreyents such settling as the rotors or impellers are provided with a plurality of inclined blades, such as shown at 16*. These blades'impart a rotary mixing action to the concrete and due to the inclined surface presented by the blades they also tend to impart an upward vertical movement, thus continuously elevating the heavier aggregates which have a tendency to settle. I

7 By referring to Figs. 1 and 2 it will be noted that a-pla'te- C is secured to the base plate 6 of the head member. The plate C extends downwardly between the impellers 16 andit serves the function of more thoroughly distributing the material which is being stirred and agitated by pellers. The blade or S-shaped incross section, as shown in Fig. 2. The concrete or material maintained in motion by the impeller indicated at 16 strikes one side-of the plate in the direction of arrow 6' and as such is deflected and discharged by the :plate in the direction of arrow 0. The

material maintained in motion by the impeller indicated at 16 strikes the plate in the direction of arrow (Z and is discharged outwardly thereby in the direction of arrow 6. The Eplatethus functions to uniformly distribute material throughout the'body fthe tank, and it might be stated that the distribution is radial with relation to the center point of the plate, as the plate is attached to thehead member Band the head member B continuously rotates. V

,lVhile the'agitator and mixing device has been described in conjunction with concrete, it isobvious that it maybe used in conjunction with bituminous mixes and for numerous other purposes, for instance in the paint industry, etc. 1

In Figs. 1 and 3 the head is shown as positively rotatedthrough a planetary gear transmission, to wit the gears 3; 8 and 10. V In Figs. 5 and 6 a chain transmission alone is emplayed and it serves the function not only of rotating the impellers indicated at 16* and gear Fig. 1.

means of the im plate 0 is substantially 7 drive shaft, a

direction of the arrow. The inclined surface of the impeller 16 is pushed against the concrete in the direction of arrow f, and as the head is freely rotatable on the drive shaft, it tends to rotate in the direction of arrow it. In other words, the inclined blades of the impeller 16? react to rotate the head. The impeller 16 rotates in the direction of the arrow indicated, and it reacts in a similar manner with the concrete and thus tends to impart rotary motion to the head B in the direction of the arrow h. The head is thus automatically rotated without any positive transmission {such as employed in In summing up the operation of the agitator and mixer, it will be noted that mixing action and agitation is not only obtainedby means of the inclined blades of the rotors or impellers 16 and 16 butit is alsoobtained by rotation of the head and the plate 0, the plate C-further serving the function of continuously directing the materials beingmined radially in all directions asthe blade and head are rotated. s p Y The inclined bladesof the impeller do not only impart a rotary mixing action to the material, but they alsoproduce a vertical.

movement to the'material, thereby preventing the heavier ingredientsfrom settling to the bottom. Where upward movement is notso essential a horizontal defiectorplate is employed, as indicated at-35, see Figs, 1 and 2, this plate retarding upward movement of thematerial as it strikes theplate. C." A uniform homogeneous mixture maythus be maintained while material we claimand desire to secure by Letters Patcut is: I

1. In a device of the character described a head member journalled on said shaft, an impeller depending therefrom, a pair of'impeller shafts journalled in the head, an impeller secured-on each shaft, a sprocket gear secured on the drive shaft, a pairof sprocket gears secured one on each impeller shaft, a pair of idler wheels journailed on the head,'one on each side of the drive shaft anda' chain passing over the sprocket gears on the impeller shaftsand the idler wheels and passing around oneside is; in transit or 'while awa ting use, and homogeneous mixvarying conditions or uses of the sprocket gear on the drive shaft Whereby said sprocket gear on thedrive shaft and the chain will impart a rotary motion to the impeller shafts in one direction and a rotary motion to the head in an opposite di rection.

2. In a device of thecharacter described a drive shaft, a head member journalled on said shaft, an impeller depending therefrom, 

